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Mean Lady – Love Now

(Fat Possum)

The debut album from Delaware duo Sam Nobles and Katie Dill, Love Now is a blend of acoustic instrumentation, found sounds, off-kilter sampled beats and folk-pop vocals with just the lightest sprinkling of synthesizer to round it off. It’s the kind of summery pop that wouldn’t be out of place in last year’s film Beasts Of The Southern Wild – picture warm summer nights on the Louisiana bayou, fireworks, cool beers and a whole lot of love in the air.

With each listen the record becomes more addictive. The simplicity of the instrumentation belies the subtle complexity of the melodic vocal lines, which slowly work their way into your subconscious. The organs and the swashy vocal reverb are occasionally reminiscent of Beach House, but the overall sound is much richer, with layers of organic textures that slowly build over the course of each song. There’s also a hint of Tune-Yards in the way the looped instrumentation comes together on tracks like ‘Why’d’ya Haftabee Sucha’. You can imagine Mean Lady putting this together live with a loop pedal and a bunch of instruments and effects.

This is definitely an album to be snapped up while it’s fresh as no doubt one or another of these tracks will surface on some mobile phone ad before long and then it’ll be all over. ‘Bop Bop’ is one of the standout tracks, a gradually building song that starts with a delayed vocal line against a nylon stringed guitar progression and with each verse new layers and textures are added until the chorus finally erupts and then drifts off with the sounds of a summer’s night. That said there’s not a duff track anywhere, not a bad claim for a debut album. Great things await.